Amazing day out amongst the penguins. BABY penguins. Then followed up with a lovely bonus trip through Gaiman for some welsh tea and laidback relaxing.
Logistics
This was definitely one of my most looked forward to tours when I had booked them. Seeing penguins in their natural habitat and hatching a couple weeks ago, we were going to get prime views of the penguins, and then I was going to go see the Argentinian Black and White Dolphins (toninas) in the afternoon as part of the combo tour.
Unfortunately, the night before, I got notice that they were cancelling the toninas portion because of windy conditions (the harbor wasn’t letting boats go out into the water). After some negotiation (cause they wanted to cancel the whole tour — and I would’ve been devastated to not be able to see the penguins), we settled on an alternate tour, where we’d replace the dolphins with a trip to Gaiman instead. Apparently famous for welsh tea and where Princess Diana came to have tea back in the day.
The tour instructions said my new tour started at 7:15am, so I pulled myself out of bed and headed down to wait for the driver.
As 7:30am came around and I still hadn’t seen anyone I got a little worried, so called the emergency number that I was given. Someone answered pretty sleepily, and then said they’d call the driver.
7:45am rolls around and I still haven’t heard anything so I call them back, and she tells me that the guide was told the tour starts at 8am, so they’ll be here to pick me up.
8:10am rolls around and I’m about to call again, thinking I just got massively punked, when some guy walks around the corner and says he parked around the corner and we’re ready to go. Phew. I get into a pretty nice SUV and settle in for the day. We pick up one other person, and I find that it’s the same setup as yesterday, 2 spanish speaking folks, and me, and the tour guide translating back and forth.
Trelow
We head out for the 2.5 hour ride to Punta Tombo. I was sort of taking a nap when I felt us slow down and turn, and as I opened one eye to see what was up, I burst out laughing cause there was a huge dinosaur looking at us. It’s apparently a recreation of what was thought to be the largest dinosaur in the world (who’s bones are in a museum a couple miles away). It’s called the patagontitan, and its hilariously smiling at you.
Side note, that first image is the oldest picture in my camera memory card for the last week, so everytime I scroll a little too far in my viewfinder when reviewing photos, the dinos gigantic face greets me in my viewfinder and I gasp and chuckle for a little bit.
Punta Tombo
Visitor Center
We first arrive at the Visitor Center and it’s pretty fun, lots of displays and some information about the penguins, as well as showing their life stages as they hatch — the baby and teenagers are fuzzy and grey before they get their black stripes in adulthood.
The plaza was pretty fun as well, some comedic statues all around.
The Rookery
The rookery had penguins EVERYWHERE. 200 thousand mating pairs, it was so fascinating. Cuteness everywhere.
Gaiman
We headed back to Puerto Madryn and stopped by the town of Gaiman on the way for some scenic strolling and some welsh tea. It was SUPER peaceful and calm, my kind of town. Could just stroll about and walk around the streets.
I was telling my guide that the only Spanish I remember is from the show Community (¿Donde está la biblioteca?), when we looked up to see an actual biblioteca…good times.
Ty Gwyn
Ty Gwyn tea house was amazing, got my fill, and gave the rest of the leftovers to the tour guide to take home since I couldn’t take them onto the ship anyway. Lovely place, and that tea really hit the spot.
Puerto Madryn
On the way back, we made one last stop at the overlook to the city, before dropping everyone back off from the tour. Long day, but it was well worth it.
After returning to Puerto Madryn, walked around the city for a bit just enjoying one last night in the city and taking in the views, before turning in (relatively) early, to get ready to rejoin the ship early in the morning at 7am. I needed to meet the ship at 7am to return my passport before getting back off the ship for the day.
Itinerary Update
Got word from one of the WhatsApp groups that the itinerary had changed. After Puerto Madryn, instead of going to Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas) then Antarctica, we were reversing course and doing Antarctica first, then Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas). Glad they still came to Puerto Madryn, or else I’d have been in trouble and potentially missed Antarctica!
Vibe Check
5 parts joy – baby penguins…what more needs to be said.
Feedback
Leave a comment or question if you have any thoughts! Anything you want to know about as we go around the world? Any things you want to share as feedback, or any images that particularly spoke to you. I’ll try to read all of them as time permits!
Matti 
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